Are all generators created equal?

[danielgoldberg]

A little hiccup with our B49. Instead of factory installed genset and dealer installed air conditioning, we're getting the opposite. The "good" news is that we can pick the generator. If installed at the factory, they would install a Westerbeke 7.6kw. We have a NextGen on our Freedom, and that has worked just great for us; very reliable, quiet, all good things and no complaints. The dealer is somewhat partial to Fischer Panda, but I really don't like them, if only because I've heard way too many horror stories on their lack of reliability.

I think my short list consists of the NextGen and Northern Lights, but would like to hear from others on their experiences and recommendations. It needs to be in a sound shield, and it needs to fit in the same space as a Westerbeke 7.6 (which shouldn't be hard, considering that those are huge).

Thanks all,

Dan

[essman]

I have the NextGen also. Been very happy with it.
Back when I was pricing gen sets, the NextGen was the best price.

[btrayfors]

Ditto for me...have a NextGen 3.5 about 4 years old. It's in a sound shield. No complaints, except that occasionally I wish I had just a bit more power (for A/C units when it's damnably hot outside!).

If you have room for a slightly larger one, and if you have sizable power demands occasionally, it would probably be good to go with the larger one. Remember, when it's really hot the output isn't really at the rated level...at least not for long :-)

BTW I, too, would avoid the FP like the plague. Northern Lights get generally good reviews.

Bill

[camaraderie]

Of the two on your short list I would suggest the NextGen...though I am quite happy with my Westerbeke beast! I assume you are getting the 8.0?

[Gary1]

We've got a Phazor on Island Breeze, 8KW, and it's run like a top since it was installed. It has about 1500 hours on it now, and the only things I've had to do is change belts and an impeller. It had one problem shortly after installation that was caused by the idiots at the yard using a standard nut with no lockwasher. The nut fell into the main circuit board and fried it. Not Phazor's fault.

I was just down at Southeast Power a while back, and the newer units are brushless, which is even better.

They're powered by Kubota engines, and the engine itself has never even burped on me.

[SVAuspicious]

I've been very happy with my Mastervolt generator (although I wish I had gotten an 8 instead of the 6).

How big are your A/Cs? A 12k and 7k BTU don't leave much room for battery charging from the 6kW on my boat.

[kevinandlizz]

STAY AWAY from the Fischer Pandas. We've got one and it and every other one I've ever heard of has been nothing but trouble.

[danielgoldberg]

The generator specialist my dealer has put me in touch with is a dealer for a number of brands. He's sort of convinced me that the way to go is the 6kw Northern Lights. A few things he says.

First on the brand, he says the NL gensets are very simple and bullet proof. He says they never break, and if they do it's always something very simple because there's very little electronic on the unit. Also, it's an 1800 RPM engine, which means it's somewhat more quiet and doesn't work as hard as the smaller engine ones, such as NextGen and Fischer Panda (which isn't in the running for us). Plus, I've never heard of anyone complaining about a NL generator (if you have one and have had a bad experience, please do respond).

On the size, his position is not particularly surprising. His view based on the load we plan to put on it is that we should go with a 6kw because we won't load up an 8kw enough, and thus will not be good for the engine over the long term. We will have 28,000 btu of air conditioning, a 140amp battery charger, and then there's the water heater, possibly a television (still hoping to go the 12v route by finding a flat screen/DVD combo with a 12v brick and cutting the wire), microwave and coffee maker. That means that if everything were to go on all at once, with the batts discharged so that the charger is at full output, we might pop a breaker, but the odds of that happening are slim and the circumstances giving rise to the possibility rare. With the smaller unit, we'll load it up more properly, it's lighter, it's quiter, and it's less expensive.

So, that's my thinking at the moment. Anyone see a reason to go another way? Thanks.

[xort]

Do you really need to run the aircon from the genny?
At the dock I can see the need for aircon but at anchor?
If you don't really need the aircon then 6k would seem oversized.

[camaraderie]

Dan..both good brands. NL does not have the customer service issues that some other old line brands have so if you are comfortable with it and you have a good guy locally... that to me should tip the balance.

Xort...one of the nice things I found at anchor is that we HAD to charge our big bttery bank for a couple of hours anyway so it was really nice to close things up, crank up the genny and put in a DVD on those really hot, humid days. Sometimes even at anchor there is no wind and in the tropics with the high humidity, running the AC while charging could really make sleeping in a cool, dehumidified cabin later on much better. We had an 8kw Westerbeke that came with the boat and were able to run dual AC's and anything else we wanted to. Had all passive on my prior boat...but it was sure nice to have a bg ol' genny at the push of a button. Easy to get used to...but certainly not necessary. Kinda like having AC at home instead of just leaving the windows upen and turning on the fans!